World News Quick Take

Agencies

SOUTH AFRICA

Donkey found in burgers

Worried about horsemeat in your beef? Try water buffalo, donkey and goat. Food scientists said they have found all three in mislabeled foods in South Africa, including beef burgers, ground beef and sausages. A study published by three professors at Stellenbosch University found that 68 percent of 139 samples contained species not declared in the product label, with the highest incidence in sausages, burger patties and deli meats. The study found soya and gluten were not labeled in 28 percent of products tested, it found undeclared pork in 37 percent and chicken in 23 percent. “This study confirms that the mislabeling of processed meats is commonplace in South Africa and not only violates food labeling regulations, but also poses economic, religious, ethical and health impacts,” co-author professor Louwrens Hoffman said on Tuesday. He said tests the past two weeks on hundreds of samples of imported meat have found no horsemeat. “It’s all about people having the right to know” what they are eating, he said. “There’s nothing wrong with eating donkey if you like donkey, but if you don’t, you have the right to know” it is in your burger or sausage, he said.

TUNISIA

Students probed over video

Authorities have ordered a probe into the staging of a “Harlem Shake” show in a Tunis suburb by students who danced wildly and imitated sexual acts, after a video recording went viral on the Internet. “The ministry of education has demanded an investigation and the department will take appropriate measures,” Education Minister Abdellatif Abid said on Radio Mosaique. He said there could be possible “expulsions” of students or “sacking” of educational staff who were behind the staging of the dance. The video footage, which shows participants smoking, dancing wildly in an uncoordinated manner and simulating sexual acts, has spread on the Internet, with dozens of different versions attracting millions of hits.

GERMANY

Intelligence agency panned

The domestic intelligence agency has come under fire for paying almost a quarter of a million US dollars to a neo-Nazi informer linked to a far-right terror group. Opposition lawmakers and anti-Nazi campaigners criticized the payments made over 18 years after they were first reported on Sunday by conservative weekly Bild am Sonntag. Officials at the intelligence agency declined to comment on the report, but the head of a parliamentary committee tasked with investigating a string of murders allegedly carried out by the group says the information appeared accurate. Lawmaker Sebastian Edathy said that the newspaper’s report matched information submitted to his committee. Edathy said the payments totaling 180,000 euros (US$240,000) to a man identified by the newspaper as Thomas R were “off the scale” for an informant.

AUSTRIA

Sleepy criminal traced

Dozing off behind the wheel can be deadly, but for one teenager it will likely result in a charge of attempted car theft. State broadcaster ORF cited police as saying they have identified a 17-year-old male as the likely suspect after a woman found her vehicle partially hot-wired, a door forced open, and a youth apparently drunk and fast asleep inside. ORF said on Tuesday the unnamed culprit rewired the vehicle to its normal state and walked off after being discovered on Sunday. He was traced after the owner reported the incident to police. A police officer in Salzburg confirmed the incident by telephone.